Despite a real lack of physical evidence, it’s “obvious” that a man struck and killed his friend while driving in reverse down a gravel road in a small vacation community on Shuswap Lake, a judge has ruled.
Trevor James Bertram was convicted Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court of dangerous driving causing death. The 43-year-old’s two-week trial took place in May.
Karen King, 56, died after she was struck by Bertram’s truck in Seymour Arm on June 28, 2019.
No one saw Bertram's truck hit King and the remote location where the incident took place, as well as heavy rains at the time, meant police were unable to collect forensic evidence.
King and Bertram were good friends. They were hanging out with others at King's house on the night of the incident, when she left to walk to a nearby campground to see if another group of friends had arrived.
Witnesses reported seeing Bertram drive his truck in reverse, leaving King’s home and heading down Collings Road toward the campground. A few moments later, he ran back to the house shouting for someone to call 911, saying King was injured.
At trial, witnesses testified Bertram was distressed in the hours after King’s death. One witness said Bertram claimed to have thought he ran over a log or a tree branch before seeing King lying in the road.
Bertram did not testify at trial, but his lawyer suggested repeatedly that King could have been struck and killed by another vehicle.
In a lengthy decision Thursday that took two hours to read in a packed courtroom at the Kamloops Law Courts, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joe Doyle dismissed that theory.
“The statement that he thought he hit a log shows that he hit something, and the something that was there was Ms. King,” the judge said.
“The only inference I can draw is that he hit Ms. King and killed her. … It’s obvious to me that that’s what happened, despite any of the speculation.”
King’s children, Laura Eeckhout and Kristopher King, told Castanet they were happy to see Bertram convicted.
“We were definitely lacking a lot of evidence and there were a lot of factors that didn’t look very positive when you look at it from a legal standpoint,” Eeckhout said.
“The journey to closure starts now. Life’s just been on hold while we hold our breath building up to this trial, and now we can finally let that breath out and begin to heal and move forward.”
King said the incident and the trial created a sharp divide in the close-knit community of Seymour Arm.
“People pick sides and listen to stories,” he said.
“And I’m just really happy that the people who stuck with us stuck with us — not as a team, but they knew the truth. And now this makes those relationships and friendships stronger.”
King said a lot of that division could have been prevented if Bertram took responsibility for his actions.
“We would have been able to move on in a lot healthier manner. We wouldn’t have to ruin friendships, stress relationships, stress family,” he said.
“Taking the high road is a lot better than taking the low road.”
The siblings said they will now get to work on victim impact statements, which will be read during Bertram’s sentencing hearing.
Lawyers will return to court on Sept. 18 to set a date for sentencing, which is not expected to take place until sometime next year.
Bertram is not in custody.
